being called or calling one’s self a “merchant marine” is plain wrong…we are “merchant mariners” or simply just “mariners”
people referring to me as being a “sailor”…NO! sailors are in the Navy. They are also called “squids” with apologies to bivalves out there
being called a “seaman” is an honor and a compliment even though I am an officer (no officer at sea is worth anything other than a piss in the wind until he qualifies as a seaman first!)
there are no multiple “captains” on a vessel…only one “master” and the rest are “mates” although the master should be called “the captain” or addressed as “captain”
there is no such thing as a “first mate” (in the US anyway)…they are in reality “chief mates” but unlike deck officers there are both “chief and first engineers”
it’s not fair to transpose the term mate with officer (ie chief mate=chief officer)…engineers are officers too and deserve that respect (you don’t say first assistant officer)
the “merchant marine” is the deepsea unlimited tonnage segment of larger “maritime industry” which also comprises towing, offshore, fisheries, ferries, ie… commercial vessels
yachts or pleasure craft are not part of the “maritime industry” even if said yacht is 100m long…they are always part of the “yacht business”
rigdon marine once offered me a job as “3rd captain”, but only once!!seems their wheelhouse consists of 1st captain, 2nd captain, 3rd captain, mate…poor poor mate!!
WTF…what planet are they from??
It’s so nobodies feelings got hurt, who figured that some of those bayou boys would be so PC? Part of it also might come from having to deal with the guys on the platform when they call down to the boat asking for the captain. So instead of having to go wake the lead up the guy on watch started calling him self captain and getting the job done.
It probably came from the 100 ton world were we don’t have any mates, we all have a master’s license. I’ve heard of 100 ton mates, but have never seen one or heard of any one having one.
And dam C. Captain, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?
I don’t eat Cheerios…they’re for limp wristed wannabees
I eat woodshavings I get from the carpenter and pour old bilge over them…puts hair on the chest (and a few other places not mentionable here)
then you go out and stand 96hours straight on the wheel roundin the Horn in the winta ina hurricane of wind with nothin but a tattered sou’wester and leaky boots!
it is not about the license but rather your billet aboard the vessel…USCG doesn’t recognize 1st, 2nd, 3rd captain in the onboard “pecking order”…there is a reasoning behind it…don’t care about hurting the nobodies feelings, what the “bayou boys” think is PC, or even more what that moron on the platform perception is…it is what it is…please let’s not bastardize the profession.
it is not about the license but rather your billet aboard the vessel…USCG doesn’t recognize 1st, 2nd, 3rd captain in the onboard “pecking order”…there is a reasoning behind it…don’t care about hurting the nobodies feelings, what the “bayou boys” think is PC, or even more what that moron on the platform perception is…it is what it is…please let’s not bastardize the profession.[/quote]
What do they mean, then? Just curious. When I was sailing OSVs in the GOM I was a Mate, and then I was a Master. What’s changed?
as far as the 100tn thing…who knows??that is the same club that runs “hooked up” at +15kts in the fog…never had a 100tn license or ran a crewboat.
re: rigdon marine…some of the major oil companies were requiring the dp2 vessels to have 2 dpo per watch…hence 1st,2nd,3rd captain and mate as explained to me by the recuiter…whatever happen to master,c/m,2/m,3m he was unable to intelligently explain…suspect the recuiter was from uranus.
as far as the 100tn thing…who knows??that is the same club that runs “hooked up” at +15kts in the fog…never had a 100tn license or ran a crewboat.
re: rigdon marine…some of the major oil companies were requiring the dp2 vessels to have 2 dpo per watch…hence 1st,2nd,3rd captain and mate as explained to me by the recuiter…whatever happen to master,c/m,2/m,3m he was unable to intelligently explain…suspect the recuiter was from uranus.[/quote]
Well hell, as long as all on board know who the master actually is and if HR writes me my sea time letters as Master I’ll be 3rd Captain. Sign me up.
not for me…perhaps too many chiefs and one indian…stick with the traditional heirarchy that I understand…this ole seadawg doesn’t do new tricks well…stick with what I know works.
OBTW…Rigdon/Gulfmark America is still running an ad…go for it and good luck!!
All of that was just my opinion Seadawg, really I have no idea were it came from. Im with Capt. A on this one. Give me my pay and sea time and you can call me what ever you want. Personally the guy on the other watch can be the captain, Ill just drive the boat during my watch and make sure the hands do their work. He can deal with the office and paper work.
I will say that as long as you are using your license and it says master on it most companies will put master by your sea time on the boats under a 100 tons as we just use the short sea service forms.
15 knots in the fog? PFFT, somebody had them pulled back for ya! The best answer I ever heard for doing this was “Im easier to spot on the rader going 20+ knots then I am in doing 8 knots in clutch.” Yea I still wanted to smack him as the guy had almost hit us in socked in fog a few months before.
And C. Captian, well sounds like somebody didn’t get enough oil in their bilge water this morning.
sorry guys…once I sink my teeth in some thing it’s hard to let go…I’ll try to make my point now…as master I personally don’t give a hump what the office is about…this has always been a real problem for me…my concern has always been for the crew and the vessel…have always had the “can do” attitude to get the job done…have a good reputation in that respect…my concern with bastardizing the chain of command is all about managing the vessel under the criteria set forth in the cfr’s as it is answerable to the USCG…they issue/revoke my license not management…no where in the cfr’s is 1st,2nd,3rd captian noted…what the implications are I haven’t got a clue…I have no intentions of finding out though or putting myself in jeopardy with the USCG…enough said on this matter!
as far as the 100tn thing…who knows??that is the same club that runs “hooked up” at +15kts in the fog…never had a 100tn license or ran a crewboat.
quote]
Actually I ran hooked up at about 24Kts in the Fog!! I had two radars.
two radars…three radars…not everything always shows up all the time…they do hiccupp from time to time…false echos…scatter…at 24kts no time to react…good luck with that…when I was an ab we had a c/b run between the tug and barge in the fog ripping out the rudders,wheels and shafts…sunk the boat 4 drown…c/b captian thought he was passing between two structures…be safe out there!
My only pet peeve is people who come up with dumb lists of rules. But no worries c.capt, it only mildly annoys me. What does get my goat is people who come up with stupid rules that are easy dismissed as BS with a simple wikipedia look-up.
If someone wants to call himself Master, captain, sailor or rear admiral I could care less and I try to oblige just don’t [I][B]expect[/B][/I] me to call you that until you earn my respect.
Seadog I can see right now you are one of those guys I call something that starts with a “P” and ends with a “Y”.
BTW if it is moving and you can’t tell if something is a structure (stationary object) or a vessel underway making way in the fog just by looking at your radar, maybe you should consider retirement or possibly a casino barge tied to the shore or maybe AIG could use a new insurance agent. Walmart is calling Seadawg. Just remember…Welcome to walmart have a nice day. Maybe you could hand the stickers out to returned items.
In the old days as I recall, 2nd Mate’s licence for 3rd Mate, Mate’s license for 2nd Mate and Master’s licence for Mate…then you just had to wait 20 years for the old bastard to die. The joke then was get your Masters ticket and take the tub out of the bathroom down to the beach so you could at least call yourself “Captain” in the phone book.
Then the industry went to hell in a handbasket and promotion went more smoothly.
